From le Chargeur to the Cabane des Dix

On the 26th of July I took the bus from Arolla to Vex,
and changed to another bus line to go to Le Chargeur at the base of
the Grande Dixence dam. Unfortunately the first bus leaves Arolla at
8:25, and I had an hour's wait at Vex, so I only reached Le Chargeur
by 11:20, quite a late start for a longish trip.

I took the cable car to the top of the dam, and was delighted later
to find a justification of my decision on Cyber-Noth's Cabane des Dix page:

At a place called Le Chargeur, just under the enormous barrage
wall, a small cable car takes the visitors for a few Swiss francs to
the lake level. Even the fanatic hikers should take advantage of it to
avoid an uninteresting walk, though early in the morning the
installation might not be open yet.

The walk along the huge artificial lake is pleasant though a bit
long. After a couple of kilometers the path from the Cabane de
Prafleuri reaches the lake, and from there on I was on one of the
standard variations of the Haute Route. Reaching the SW corner of the
lake I met a group of three young (mid-twenties would be my guess)
men, we would leapfrog each other all the way to the Cabane des Dix.
I remembered that my old (bought around 1990) maps showed the main
path to the Cabane leaving the lake here, but as I did not have the
old maps with me, and as the current path clearly followed the lake to
its SE corner I did not look more carefully.

At the SE corner I noted that the path to the Col de Riedmatten did
not cross the inlet as it used to. Dawn DuPriest had noted that in her
2002 trip
report:

Here Kev says to take the long suspension bridge over the lake
inlet - but the bridge was closed! A big, metal door was actually
bolted in place at this end of the bridge with a sign that told us
clearly we weren't permitted to cross. The trail to Cabane de Dix
took off uphill, but it was also signed to Col de Riedmatten, so we
headed that way.

The two paths climbed up together, and the initial climb was quite
steep, or at least seemed so after the long flat walk. After a short
distance they parted, the one to the Col de Riedmatten going to the
left (eastwards) while the one to the Cabane des Dix continued
southwards. A short distance beyond that junction a path came in from
the right (west); I am certain that this is the path coming from the
SW corner of the lake.

Beyond that the path rises, alternating between a few steeper
pitches and more moderate ones. Ultimately it goes along the lateral
moraine of the Glacier de Cheilon (now gone at this level), crosses
the stream that flows down from the Glacier de la Luette and follows
that stream uphill for over a kilometer. Then the path goes off the
moraine to the right (west) and starts the last ascent, up the
Tête Noire. That small mountain has two peaks; since the path
passes quite close to the lower one I scrambled up it to inspect the
cross on it. The cross had "Raymond Luisier 1952 - 1985" written on
it.

From there a short descent into the glacial plain, followed by the
short but steep ascent to the Cabane.

This was my first stay at a SAC Cabane, and I enjoyed the
experience immensely. Sitting in the large dining area I struck up a
conversation with a group of French-speaking hikers at the neighboring
table (I speak fairly fluent, if ungramatical, French), and was soon
joined at my table by a trio of British climbers (a couple plus
another man) who were doing trips based on the Arolla
campground. They had recently climbed the Aiguilles Rouges from
the Cabane des Aiguilles Rouges, and they recounted their
(mis-)adventure with a mixture a pride and shame!

The Cabanes all serve, in addition to the meal, some kind of soup,
and all have both beer and wine for sale. Dinner was copious, if not
memorable! After dinner we were asked whether we wanted breakfast at
4 AM (climbers) or 7 AM (hikers). After some more conversation we all
went to bed, the Cabane was remarkable quiet given the number of
people present.

From the Cabane des Dix to Arolla by the Pas de
Chèvres

Next morning I woke briefly while the climbers were getting out of
bed, and promply fell asleep again. The sounds of my fellow hikers
getting up woke me up for good. Breakfast was basic (cereal, bread
with jam and cheese, coffee or tea), it seemed that about half the
group had left early for climbs. I noticed that the hut staff sold
both bottled water and picnic lunches; I bought neither since I was
well supplied.

I am probably more afraid of exposure than most of my hiking
friends, and I had been wondering whether I would have the courage to
go over the Pas de Chèvres using the notorious ladders. They
had been a major topic of conversation the previous evening amongst
the hikers (as opposed to the climbers) at the Cabane. The
alternative, the path over the Col de Riedmatten, is very close by, so
I decided to leave the decision to the last minute.

First, of course, I had to get down from the Cabane and across the
remains of the Glacier de Cheilon. I was not very comfortable on the
steep path down from the Cabane, and went slowly, being passed by
several groups of braver hikers. The glacier itself consists here of
two relatively narrow tongues, with multiple waymarks showing the safe
way across each. The first tongue was easy even for me; there were so
many embedded small stones in the ice that it was as slippery as
sandpaper! The second tongue seemed more slippery, and since I had
brough my light four point instep crampons precisely for this glacier
I used them. Note that I saw nobody else with any kind of crampons
that day.

Once across the glacier there is a rather unpleasant scramble up
boulders, with many very visible marks (many blotches of red as well
as a few regular red-white-red waymarks). At the final decision point
I opted for the ladders. They were much easier than I could have
imagined!

The only real problem was getting up the first rung. I am six foot
tall (183 cms), but I still had to pull hard with both arms and push
with both legs to get my second foot on the second rung. After that
it was plain sailing. At times the ladder was very close to the rock,
but I never felt that I was balancing on the tips of my toes.

The first ladder fuses seamlessly with the second, but the second
ends about a step away from the third. I had read about that and it
was my main worry. I should not have worried; there is now an
excellent horizontal bar to hold, and the sloping rock on which you
used to have to step has now been supplemented by a perfectly
horizontal one (probably blasted out of the mountainside!).

From there to Arolla there is little to say. The descent from the
col was initially steep, but the grade soon become gentler. I was
back in my apartment shortly after noon, after a very enjoyable two
day excursion.